The U.S. Fair Use Law states that a fee cannot be charged on copyrighted items that are used for educational purposes. According to Susan Kornfeild, lawyer for Michigan Document Services, copiers could produce coursepacks without paying publisher's fees until 1991. That year, a New York federal judge ruled that the Fair Use Law does not apply to businesses selling coursepacks. The ruling lacked foresight. By forcing businesses to pay for the intellectual property rights of photocopied material, the judge sought to crack down on profit margins. His wish went unfulfilled - and students must bear the burden of additional costs.
Michigan Document Service deserves commendation for its efforts to overturn the decision. Three publishers sued MDS in 1992 for refusing to pay required permission fees for copying materials. Last year, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals followed the precedent of the New York case, ruling that MDS must pay the royalties. On Monday, the Supreme Court effectively shut the door on the issue by refusing to hear an appeal. The high court's decision creates an appalling paradox.
Professors can go to the nearest copy store and make handouts for their students at an affordable price. However, if they give the same responsibility to a coursepack shop, they must pay royalties, in addition to copying costs, and the price may increase several hundred percent. The Supreme Court, in perpetrating the contradiction, has violated the lawmakers' original intentions - lawmakers enacted the Fair Use Law for the explicit purpose of making education more accessible and encouraging the intellectual community's free flow of ideas.
In spite of the ruling, students at the University may soon pay less for their coursepacks. In their successful bid to run the Michigan Student Assembly, Michael Nagrant and Olga Savic proposed the creation of a student coursepack store. The store would sell both new and used coursepacks and, because it would be non-profit, would not fall under the Fair Use Law's auspices. Therefore, the store's student coursepacks would not incur royalties. Nagrant and Savic should look for resourceful ways to make the store a reality. If it is implemented, students could buy and sell materials efficiently and could save a great deal of money during their time at the University.
MDS fought valiantly, but the Supreme Court chose to condone royalties and high coursepack costs. In the future, the Court should decide to hear similar cases. In the meantime, universities must look for creative means of holding down coursepack prices. Nagrant and Savic should take note: The errant Supreme Court ruling heightens the urgency and need for a coursepack store; they must make its creation a high priority.